Why are lock-knives illegal in the UK in situations where folding knives are allowed? That sounds backward to reality. I’ve had (non-UK) jobs where a knife was required, and one that didn’t have a locking blade would have been stupid and dangerous.
You can check the answer of the people under the question at Quora “uk knife carrying laws“
You may not carry a lock knife in the UK since they are extremely effective weapons. An unlocked blade is as dangerous to the wielder as to anyone else.#You may use fixed or lockable blades but ONLY in your work and hey must not be carried at any time.
Actually, having handled lock bladed knives, it makes perfect sense. We have enough stabbings already, mostly with fixed blade kitchen type knives!
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Why are lock-knives illegal in the UK in situations where folding knives are allowed? That sounds backward to reality. I’ve had (non-UK) jobs where a knife was required, and one that didn’t have a locking blade would have been stupid and dangerous.
I think the subtlety of the first sentence needs a little clarification. Yes, carrying a lock knife in situations when a non-locking knife could be seen as carrying an offensive weapon. A lock knife in itself is not illegal to own, nor to buy.
Another thing to clarify is “good reason”. Several others have correctly said that you can carry a lock knife with good reason. In firearms law this term is used to establish why you want to own a specific firearm. This is done up front on the application. With a knife the good reason is about proving that you had a legitimate use for the object if you get stopped or went to court.
I own a lock knife which can be opened with one hand and it’s my go to for any outdoor type stuff or for opening boxes. It’s perfectly legal but I don’t usually have a reason to take it with me anywhere. Another, an Opinel knife with the locking ferrule, often lives in my work rucksack. If I’m staying over night anywhere in the UK, this will be with me. My good reason would be cheese and wine as I will often grab something like that from a supermarket and it’s the perfect knife for the cheeseboard, board and camping cutlery set often help in proving the point.
Sadly some knackersack NRA nutter will just make stuff up based on their high dose of propaganda. Why let a bunch of lies make up for actual law in the country being lied about?
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False premise. Lock-knives are not “illegal,” you just need to have a good reason to be in possession of one in public. If you have a job or hobby that reasonably requires you to use a lock-knife, you can when you are doing that job, or travelling to and from it, or partaking in that hobby.
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I wanted to respond to J. Peper ’s answer, but sadly he has disabled comments, so I’ll beg everyone’s indulgence to address his claims here.
“Lock knives are illegal to carry in the UK because the UK is a police state.”
Lock knives are not illegal, nor are they illegal to carry, provided that the person carrying them has a good reason for doing so, and carries them in a safe manner.
“In a free society, you are free to carry whatever you want.
In a police state you can only carry what the police say you are allowed to carry”.
The police do not decide who can carry what, the laws of the land, as enacted by our various governments over the years, do.
Just as American governments have banned the carrying of several types of knife, including switchblades, dirks, daggers, stilettos, ballistic knives, double edge knives, and knuckle knives, so have UK governments.
“In a free society you are punished for what you have actually done to harm another person.
In a police state you are punished for what you might do to another person.”
Not being able to carry a lockable knife, when not having a good reason to do so, is not a punishment.
Carrying a lockable knife without good reason is reason to be punished, as it is illegal.
Many actions that don’t don’t necessarily actually harm others are still illegal, such as not wearing a seat belt, or not wearing a motorcycle helmet, if such are required by law.
“In a free society you are free to go about your business without needing to provide explanation or justification.
In a police state you need to provide a “good reason” to the police why you should be allowed to go about your business.”
Tell that to the minority communities of the US, who regularly have to justify themselves to police officers, simply based on their skin tone.
“In a free society, ordinary citizens can use reasonable force to justifiably protect themselves from criminals.
In a police state, the police have a legal monopoly on the use of force and punish ordinary people for protecting themselves against criminals.”
The principle of reasonable force applies in both the US and the UK. Despite your self-serving rhetoric, anyone living in the UK is entitled to defend themselves, up to and including the use of lethal force if necessary.
“The UK satisfies all these criteria for being a police state and none of the criteria for being a free society. It may be a very polite and genteel police state, but that is just a velvet glove over the iron fist”
Really, Joe ?
Strange then that in the Cato Institute’s annual Human Freedom Index, for the years 2015 to 2019, the UK outstrips the US every time, apart from the 2019 figures:
2015: US 20th., UK 9th.
2016: US 23rd. UK 6th.
2017: US 17th. UK 9th.
2018: US 17th. UK 8th.
2019: US 15th. UK 14th.
Human Freedom Index
Just as a side note on the per capita deaths from both knives and firearms, this:
Trump’s knife crime claim: how do the US and UK compare?
Your ivory tower needs a polish, Joe .
Edit: Coincidentally, today I received a ‘pocket’ multi-tool, It has, among other things, three blades, to wit a straight knife, a serrated knife and a saw blade. All three lock into place for use.
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Lock knives are not illegal, in fact in a number of forms they are really quite common. It is really useful to have a knife where you can put the blade away when it is not in use to protect the blade and persons in the area.
You just have to have a valid reason to carry a knife with a long blade. Many people do this, they carry them safely, not on show etc. They are not for ‘protection’. The UK is really safe, you do not need to arm yourself. We are not paranoid about being targeted, but then our government does not send out militia to snatch protestors.
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Part of the problem is the technical jargon used to ban ‘flick’ knives whose only purpose was criminal. They were knives that could be carried in a pocket but sprung or flicked open and the blade locked .
I have knives that are technically banned but are not offencive. Both blades ‘lock open’ but only after manual opening, to prevent closing up on your fingers, during use. one is a German Hunters dressing knife and the other an american working knife. Incidentally the knife blade on a Gerber Multi Tool locks open ?
At one time I had a ‘licence’ to carry a flick knife one that sprung open and locked; to use on antenna cables at height one handed.
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Those that tell you that lock- knives are illegal, haven’t read the legislation. Now, I totally understand that it is far easier to get your educational material from NRA memes but it takes a moment of your time to read the legislation. In short, bladed and sharply pointed articles are only illegal in public if you do not have a reasonable excuse or lawful authority e.g. a Chef on their way to work may have an assortment of knives in their car; A lumberjack may have a hatchet and an axe to complement their chainsaw; A farrier may have all sorts of sharp tools. All of these professionals have a reasonable excuse. However, taking a lock-knife on a Saturday night out or to football game, you lose that reasonable excuse.
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Lock-knives are not illegal in the UK. They are legal to own and use. However, if you have a lock knife in a public place, you need to have good reason for possessing it at that time. The good reason is best considered by the ‘this’ test: Do I need ‘this’ knife at ‘this’ time to do ‘this’ action? If the answer to any of those questions is ‘no’, you fail the good reason test.
For example, if you are travelling to someone’s house to fit a carpet, then that lockable, folding knife in your pocket is there for a very good reason. Stop off on the way home, sink six pints, and get ‘a bit fighty’ in the kebab shop… your good reason for carrying that knife is long gone.
The reason lock-knives are so restricted comes down two court cases from 1993 (Harris vs DPP and Fehmi vs DPP) and a Court of Appeal case (Regina vs Deegan), from 1998. The courts ruled that a lockable folding knife is ‘a bladed article’ meaning that a locking mechanism effectively turns a folding knife into a fixed-blade knife, which are all subject to good reason restrictions. If it had been just the one case, case law might be overturned by subsequent case law, but two cases and an appeal… this is cemented in statute and becomes very hard to repeal.
There have been attempts to repeal this law, but the risk of backfire is high. People can buy locking knives perfectly legally and law-abiding peopl…
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The issue with a knife that has a safety lock is simply that it becomes (or can become) a fixed blade knife. And you can’t carry a fixed blade knife without a good reason, that does not involve it being weapon.
And while I understand the idea of ‘intention’ defining a weapon, banning a safety lock is a little bizarre!
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What is illegal is carrying such a knife without a “good reason”. Needing it for work, or for camping, could be such a “good reason”. We discourage locking or fixed knives for everyday carry in public as they can be used for stabbing.
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I believe this is a misunderstanding of law. A folding blade less than 3inches can be carried without the need for a reasonable excuse.
However a lock knife, fixed blade or any other bladed implement can be carried as long as you have a reasonable excuse. Lots of trades people carry knives to do their work. Fisherman often carry sheath knives to cut fishing lines and gut fish. This is normal.
What you can’t do is just walk around with a locking knife for the sake of it.
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What you’re missing here is that a law in the us and a law here is two different things.
Here I’m required to shoot a Scotsman if I find him within the city of York after dark with a bow and arrow. Do we enforce it? Fuck no.
More pertinent was the “you are allowed to exercise once a day” law rushed through for the pandemic. Is anyone counting? No. It’s a law of convenience. If you’re being a dick then it’s a law you.can easily be proved to have broken. It saves time in arrest, it saves time in court.
The law here, like our Constitution is adaptable. Don’t be a dick and you’ll be fine.
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Why are lock-knives illegal in the UK in situations where folding knives are allowed?
Because they make a more effective stabbing weapon than a non-locking blade. Simples.
That sounds backward to reality. I’ve had (non-UK) jobs where a knife was required, and one that didn’t have a locking blade would have been stupid and dangerous.
They’re not illegal in all situations. You are perfectly entitled to carry one if you have a legally valid reason— in other words, if you actually need one. Whether your reason is good enough is up to the police and/or a jury if it gets that far.
If you’re trying to accomplish a task in which a non-locking blade would be genuinely “stupid and dangerous”, then you have the right to carry a locking blade.
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They’re illegal to carry around on you casually *without a good reason which doesn’t involve sticking it in humans*. Needing one for your work would be a good reason.
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Lock knives are no more illegal than other folding knives. I suspect you are thinking of flick-knives, designed to deploy the blade into a locked position rapidly with a flick of the wrist, which are illegal as the only real purpose for such would be in a fight.
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Most lock knives in the UK are NOT lock knives. this is because the legal definition of a lock knife is
Lock knives
Lock knives are not classed as folding knives and are illegal to carry in public without good reason. Lock knives:
have blades that can be locked and refolded only by pressing a button
can include multi-tool knives – tools that also contain other devices such as a screwdriver or can opener.
I have a number locking foldable blade knives where the locking mechanism is a spring of latch mostly used for carpentry and gardening. I am scrupulously careful about what I carry since the time I had a knife confiscated because I forgot I had it when attending court and the metal detector found it. it was a 2″ long folding knife with a 1/2″ blade.
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They are not illegal to have or carry, you just need good reason to carry. Taking one to a football match is not good reason. Having one in your pocket (closed) whist out deer stalking is pretty much a requirement. Folding knives are regarded as dangerous when doing the initial butchering of a deer in the field,so there are plenty of reasons where having a non locking blade the uk is both legal and sensible.
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Lock knives are illegal to carry in the UK because the UK is a police state.
In a free society, you are free to carry whatever you want.
In a police state you can only carry what the police say you are allowed to carry.
In a free society you are punished for what you have actually done to harm another person.
In a police state you are punished for what you might do to another person.
In a free society you are free to go about your business without needing to provide explanation or justification.
In a police state you need to provide a “good reason” to the police why you should be allowed to go about your business.
In a free society, ordinary citizens can use reasonable force to justifiably protect themselves from criminals.
In a police state, the police have a legal monopoly on the use of force and punish ordinary people for protecting themselves against criminals.
The UK satisfies all these criteria for being a police state and none of the criteria for being a free society. It may be a very polite and genteel police state, but that is just a velvet glove over the iron fist.
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If you require a bladed weapon for your job – butcher, chef, fisherman etc so long as your knives are correctly stored for transport to and from you place of work then there is no problem so long as they are legal. We don’t allow lock knives because that is the law. We don’t have to explain any of our laws to foreigners but they must comply with them or face the consequences.
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Here in the US, I got my first lock blade pocket knife from my father when I was five years old. Still have the scar on my thumb from trying to find out what is inside a golf ball.
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Because knives are for cutting mainly and locking folders are often just as good as slipjoints for that use.
Meanwhile when attacking someone to inflict serious harm, you must stab … and slipjoints are awful at that (they tend to fold on your fingers when stabbing).
So in short … to prevent stabbing attacks.
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